Communicating Partners & Dr. Jim McDonald's Fan Box

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Mr. Obama, I am an AMERICAN, I speak ENGLISH. I teach my children to speak English... their primary language is and always WILL be ENGLISH. There are FAR too many of you liberals out there, wanting to throw away our heritage and become a melting pot. Pardon me if I choose to hold on to MY heritage in MY country.

5 comments:

hi, my name is ana and i regularily read your blog.i am mother of lili who is 11 months old with DS.

anyway, this is my 1st time commenting here.i just wanted to say that i don't think obama is suggesting that anyone throw away their heritage or not teach our children english.

i'm confused as to why you see our children learning a second language as a threat.

america IS a melting pot, like it or not.it has always been a meting pot and always will be.

my ancestors came here from norway and sweden.

anyway, i really like to read your blog. you always have something very interesting to say and i appreciate that.but i was a bit taken aback by your hostility and fear in this post here.i hope you will reconsider your reaction and realize that learning a second language is nothing to fear.

being able to communicate in more than one language is an asset and a freedom.in fact, english is derived from many many many languages.english wouldn't even exist if it weren't for all the other languages that make it up.and the english language is always growing and changing.

looking back several hundren years at the english language, you would hardly recognize it!

please open your heart to things that are different in the way you have opened your heart to your beautiful daughter's differences.

we all have nothing to gain by living in fear and being closed minded.

Hello, my name is Michelle, nice to meet you, Ana. I speak a little Spanish, but not very well. If I go to Europe, I try to speak their language. I'm not very good at this, but you get my point?

I took Spanish for 3 years in school, and until today have not needed it again. ;)

I am not afraid of other cultures, in fact I have probably lived in more diverse cultures than many. I speak some Turkish, plenty of French, and even a little swedish (very little...valkommen?) because my ancestors were also Swedes. When they came to the US, they assimilated, and learned the language. when my fiancee was born, he spoke only French, and learned English at the butt end of a ruler, by the nuns in school. We hear and speak several languages here at home, and family gatherings are a melting pot.

What does scare me is that our country is losing its OWN cultural identity. Yes, we are a melting pot. But if I visited France, I would be a guest, and not likely to speak French (we speak Canadian French here, not Parisien, they might not understand us at all.) I would not be expected, as a visitor, to learn their language. If i MOVED there, then yes, I should learn their language. It would seem a bit unfair and rude for me to expect my host to change his language for me? People who move here should speak English, because that is our national language. If we use Obama's arument, shouldn't we expect the french to speak our language when we visit them? Thats silly. That they DO speak English in many cases and countries speaks to the fact that their culture is inundated with English: movies, sports, television. English is the 2nd or 3rd most used language in the WORLD (depending on who you ask). It is the official language of at least 50 countries...none of which is the United States.

English is far more world wide in its distribution than all other spoken languages. It is an official language in 52 countries as well as many small colonies and territories. In addition, 1/4 to 1/3 of the people in the world understand and speak English to some degree. It has become the most useful language to learn for international travel and is now the de facto language of diplomacy. In 2001, the 189 member countries in the United Nations were asked what language they wish to use for communication with embassies from other countries. More than 120 chose English, 40 selected French, and 20 wanted to use Spanish. Those who wanted English to be the common language included all of the former Soviet republics, Viet Nam, and most of the Arab world. English is also the dominant language in electronic communication. About 75% of the world's mail, telexes, and cables are in English. Approximately 60% of the world's radio programs are in English. About 90% of all Internet traffic is as well.

Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “The ultimate way to bring this nation to ruin, or preventing all possibility of it continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. We have but one flag; we must also learn one language, and that language is English”

By the way? In 1995, the predominately French-speaking province of Quebec came within a few thousand votes of seceding from Canada. Why? Because its people spoke French. There was a secessionist movement in western Canada, where most people speak english, on the grounds that the Canadian government favors French speakers. Multilingualism there has caused a tremendous rift in the country. Our melting pot has become a land divided by culture. We opened the doors to immigrants, and in doing so have given up some of our own identity. I dont think that learning another language is bad for our kids, in fact most high schools require 4 years of foreign language. But which language SHOULD we teach? Obama saying that we should teach SPANISH says a lot, but to me it is pandering, and it is ugly. There are a lot of languages we could learn. But demanding that we teach our kids Spanish in a country already torn apart on issues of illegal immigration is just Obama looking for votes. You think his kids speak Spanish? I doubt it. I appreciate your comments, and the respectful way you presented your feelings. But if it makes me closed-minded to say that I think we should be taking care of AMERICANS first, and others only if we can, then I am just that. If the liberals have their way, illegal immigrant kids would have the right to a college education on my dime that my OWN kids would not qualify for. A bill currently being considered by the Legislature would provide in-state tuition at our public colleges and university to individuals who are in the United States illegally. That is wrong. I am sending a kid through college right now, and it ISNT easy. In some states, illegal immigrant kids get college at an instate tuition rate. Kids from other states are understandably upset that they pay MORE than folks from other countries.

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates that California's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident.

If they want to live in this great country, then in my opinion, they ought to learn the language and earn their own way. Not the other way around. If they treat me with respect, I will do the same. No doubt about it.

i am by no means arguing that english is not a very largely used and useful language all over the world.

i see now that really what you are angry about is illegal immigration and it's not anger towards learning another language, in general.

that is a different issue entirely :)

(and i think obama is also not saying that people who come here to live should not learn english?)

and not one i can really even get into as i am riding on the fence on that and don't know where i stand exactly.it surely is complex!

i can say that i am quite certain history shows that about 1/2 this country did belong to the people south of the border not too long ago...so that makes it all the more complex and tricky for me to ever get black or white on the issue.

anyway...i can't debate that much as the whole things makes my mind boggle at the complexity of the issue.

as an aside, for the record, i am not an obama fan either.

and i must add, in all fairness, that theodore roosevelt was also a HUGE advocate for the american eugenics movement.

a man named madison grant (a friend of roosevelt) wrote a best selling book called The Passing of the Great Race.

here is an excerpt from it:

"A rigid system of selection through the elimination of those who are weak or unfit -- in other words social failures -- would allow solve the whole question in one hundred years, as well as enable us to get rid of the undesirables who crowd our jails, hospitals, and insane asylums. The individual himself can be nourished, educated and protected by the community during his lifetime, but the state through sterilization must see to it that his line stops with him, or else future generations will be cursed with an ever increasing load of misguided sentimentalism. This is a practical, merciful, and inevitable solution of the whole problem, and can be applied to an ever widening circle of social discards, beginning always with the criminal, the diseased, and the insane, and extending gradually to types which may be called weaklings rather than defectives, and perhaps ultimately to worthless race types."

roosevelt wrote of this book:

"The book is a capital book: in purpose, in vision, in grasp of the facts that our people must need to realize.... It is the work of an American scholar and gentleman, and all Americans should be grateful to you for writing it."

in 1925 this book was published in german and grant received a letter from hitler, himself saying"the book is my bible"

so...because of this, i really have to take anything roosevelt says with a large grain of salt as he obviously was an extremely flawed man.

i only out this here because i know from reading your blog that you are very against the practicing of eugenics....part of the reason i love to read your blog.

so....i am sorry it took me this long to say "hi" to you and i'm sorry that it took something of a more negetive nature to make myself "visible" to you.

i am by no means arguing that english is not a very largely used and useful language all over the world.

i see now that really what you are angry about is illegal immigration and it's not anger towards learning another language, in general.

that is a different issue entirely :)

(and i think obama is also not saying that people who come here to live should not learn english?)

and not one i can really even get into as i am riding on the fence on that and don't know where i stand exactly.it surely is complex!

i can say that i am quite certain history shows that about 1/2 this country did belong to the people south of the border not too long ago...so that makes it all the more complex and tricky for me to ever get black or white on the issue.

anyway...i can't debate that much as the whole things makes my mind boggle at the complexity of the issue.

as an aside, for the record, i am not an obama fan either.

and i must add, in all fairness, that theodore roosevelt was also a HUGE advocate for the american eugenics movement.

a man named madison grant (a friend of roosevelt) wrote a best selling book called The Passing of the Great Race.

here is an excerpt from it:

"A rigid system of selection through the elimination of those who are weak or unfit -- in other words social failures -- would allow solve the whole question in one hundred years, as well as enable us to get rid of the undesirables who crowd our jails, hospitals, and insane asylums. The individual himself can be nourished, educated and protected by the community during his lifetime, but the state through sterilization must see to it that his line stops with him, or else future generations will be cursed with an ever increasing load of misguided sentimentalism. This is a practical, merciful, and inevitable solution of the whole problem, and can be applied to an ever widening circle of social discards, beginning always with the criminal, the diseased, and the insane, and extending gradually to types which may be called weaklings rather than defectives, and perhaps ultimately to worthless race types."

roosevelt wrote of this book:

"The book is a capital book: in purpose, in vision, in grasp of the facts that our people must need to realize.... It is the work of an American scholar and gentleman, and all Americans should be grateful to you for writing it."

in 1925 this book was published in german and grant received a letter from hitler, himself saying"the book is my bible"

so...because of this, i really have to take anything roosevelt says with a large grain of salt as he obviously was an extremely flawed man.

i only out this here because i know from reading your blog that you are very against the practicing of eugenics....part of the reason i love to read your blog.

so....i am sorry it took me this long to say "hi" to you and i'm sorry that it took something of a more negetive nature to make myself "visible" to you.

What frustrates me on a daily basis, is when I call directory assistance and I have to "Push 1 for English". UGH!!! Shouldn't that be the default language here in the US? I am all for other cultures. I don't have a problem with that. But if I go to...say...South Africa, I certainly can't expect the government there to change their rules or schools to suit MY culture! So why on earth does is it ok that those who CHOOSE to come here EXPECT things to change for them? I just don't get that. It doesn't make sense to me at all, and frustrates me to no end.